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Sunday, September 16, 2007

Kg.Rawa Incident -Follow up on Robinson's lament .

I refer to the comment by Robinson where he says :

Another incident is the Kampung Rawa incidentwhere the local Hindus were harrassed by Muslims because the temple bells rang out loudly that it interfered with their prayers,they were so agitated that they resorted to rioting, 2000 people gathered in the mosque to go on a jihad against the local Hindus.

How many times have non Muslims resorted to violence whenever the azan interrupts their religious activities?

I would like to ask whether Robinson was there in Penang during the incident or speaking based upon what he has read or learned from others who were also not there?

Many folks speak about the Kg.Rawa incident without actually knowing the truth as to what was the root cause and consequential events that led to the confrontation between the Muslims and the Indian Hindus of Penang back then in 1998.

Instead of getting worked up for nothing, it is better for such folks to learn the truth of the matter.

I was there in Penang during the turn of events and can share with you as to what really took place?

But before that, I would like to ask that you read what the Malaysian Parliamenthas to say about the case? The relevant pages are from page 47 to 51.

Imagine the scenario. First and foremost, the temple in question was built illegally by certain quarters from the Indian Hindu squatters there at the privately owned land belonging to a Chinese.

The temple started off as a small shrine in front of an Indian squatter family's home and came into being many years later than the existing authorized Surau Kampong Rawa which was upgraded into a gazetted Masjid with the authorities.

The close proximity of the illegal shrine which was slowly built up into a temple by its squatter builders was only about 20 to 30 metres away from the Masjid Kampong Rawa.

From what I heard directly from the Malay villagers living there, that illegal shrine turned Hindu templewas a front for the Indian drug dealers who just did as they pleased and created an unsafe environment for the villagers as a result of their wheeling and dealings there and they were becoming a nuisance when their suppliers and drug addict customers started to ride their noisy motorcycles in and out of the area at all odd hours especially in the wee hours of the night.

The noise pollution from the drug dealing activities was already driving the villagers nuts because of the way the couldn't care less drug dealers went about their business.

This was already becoming a problem for the villagers and they were slowly but surely getting exasperated and pissed off at such unwelcomecriminal activities there as a result of the emergence of that illegally expanded temple from being a small squatter family shrine of the Indian squatter family.

Another resulting problem for the villagers there was the influx of drug addicts who started converging at the illegal temple to get their supplies and their fix.

Thefts were becoming rampant and the villagers were getting more incensed by such drug dealers and addicts messing up their place and after losing their items and properties to the thieves.

Now, the illegal temple had been built up to such an extent that they had engaged contractors to build the temple with concrete and pillars complete with domes and the usual layout of a hindu temple ...only thing was that they had no permission to build that temple and the drug dealers never bothered to go ask permission from the land owner and simply did as they pleased.

The problem started escalating when they installed a large temple bell and brought in priests from India who started to carry out the usual Hindu rites and clanged the bells loudly and consequtively coinciding with the main prayer times of the existing officially gazetted Masjid Kampong Rawa!

The clanging of the bells during the major prayer times of the Muslims congregating at the masjid caused many of the Muslim villagers to start getting affected and disturbed the peace and tranquility that they have had all these while during prayers until the emergence of that illegal temple.

The aggrieved villagers started losing their patience when the drug dealing problem added on to their heartaches caused by the disturbance created by the loud clanging bells came to a peak when crime started to skyrocket there caused by the rampant thievery by drug addicts converging there for their supplies from the drug dealers based from the temple.

I first came to know about the problem when I read a poster from the Administration Committe of the Masjid Kampong Rawa asking us Muslims to help them out by showing up for the Friday prayers there in force and after that to stage a demonstration to show our objections about the offending illegal temple's existence too close to the masjid for comfort!

The poster from the Masjid Kampong Rawa authorities which called for support from Muslims in Penang to help raise a protest against the existence of the illegal temple ended up being scanned and posted in the internet and this call was answered by concerned Muslims by turning up at the Masjid Kampong Rawa to listen to the aggrieved Muslims there and slowly the attending number of concerned Muslims started to grow from day to day.

The MPPP had already received news and complaints from the people of Kampong Rawa and they failed to respond to the matter in as prompt a manner as needed.

Usual government department red tape and official bureaucracy was the order of the day and people were getting more angry as a result!

As expected, news about the problem spread like wildfire through the internet and Muslims started to turn up in force at the masjid to show their support as this concerned the religious wellbeing of their fellow Muslims of Kampong Rawa.

As an active Da'ee of the Masjid Kapitan Keling Masjid, I and my colleagues were there to do our bit.

I met Ustaz Asri Zainal Abidin @ the current Mufti of Perlis there as well and many prominent Muslim leaders who turned up to try solve the problems.

Many Muslim lawyers also were there to try and settle the problem but its not easy to dislodge a well established drug dealing syndicate from their illegal temple base for they were making good money from their drug dealings there and won't budge.

Religious sentiments started to be fanned by both parties and gradually the situation there started getting too hot to handle.

The number of Muslims turning up at Kampong Rawa was something that I have never ever seen before in my life.

There were Muslims coming from all over the Peninsular after getting wind of the problem and the atmosphere was just tingling with electricity so to speak from the religious fervor and spirit of Muslim Brotherhood which transcended all political beliefs.

I saw UMNO diehards sit together with PAS strong supporters, Tabligh Jamaat members having drinks with Arqam brothers, in fact at that moment in time, all Muslims morphed into one solid mass of 'Ikhwanul Muslimin' that it brought tears to my eyes and I felt so glad to see all that take place right before me!

The problem united the Muslims as one and to this date, I have yet to see a similar gathering save for the one held by PEMBELA at the Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan relating to the Lina Joy apostasy issue.

I had been there at every gathering and saw all that took place with my own eyes. I worked as a Jewellery Sales Executive at Berkat Jewellers opposite the Masjid Kapitan Keling.

I was familiar with several policemen from the Balai Polis Central, Georgetown, Penang who used to come to sign the police anti-crime foot patrol record book at our shop.

They became my friends and we came to know each other well.

These police friends of mine happened to be ordered to be there at the Kampong Rawa conflict area and they had to form a human chain to prevent overzealous folks from breaking through the now fenced off entrance to the illegal temple.

I was there during one incident when the Muslims were just raging to go destroy the temple structure and my police friends were all there was between some of those totally worked up individuals who were about to lynch the policemen who were stopping them from getting rid of the temple right there and then!

Those who know me will vouch for my readiness to jump right in and take control of any volatile situations and I did just that in saving my police friends from the Balai Central that day!

I know that folks were getting worked up due to the sluggish manner by which the MPPP were dragging their feet in demolishing the structure and also to the Hindus raging emotions as well who were gathering in large numbers along the Hindu majority quarters at Lines Road, just a stone's throw away opposite Kampong Rawa.

Rumours fuelled by lies and raging passions and emotional outbursts added to the tinderbox volatile situation there and the arrival of large numbers of FRU trucks and anti-riot police personnel from the mainland added to the dangerous level of agitated Hindus and Muslims ready to fight it out!

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